In Case You Missed It...The Week of March 12, 2006

The Zend Framework Updated Preview Release and Tutorial

Even though the original preview release was out a few weeks ago, according to Zend, the reponse has been fantastic. I've read a lot of blogs on this as well, and it seems to be living up to some pretty high expectations so I guess we'll see how it goes. Zend has released a new version based on contributions from the community and core developers, which is available at their site. As well, there is an excellent tutorial available at php|architect. There is also an active discussion on several forums, including our own forum and the Sitepoint forum. Feel free to throw in your own two cents.

Netcraft Advises Upgrading Your Mambo

A recent post to the Netcraft website alerts us that hackers that are actively seeking to take advantage of the Mambo insecurities. Apparently they are looking to exploit another vulnerability besides the Mare.D worm. First upgrade Mambo at the Mambo web site then read the full Netcraft article.

Secure Your Apps the Easy Way

Finally there is hope for PHP developers concerned about security in their code (and who isn't?). A blog post on ThinkPHP announces their latest project called Chorizo! Besides being a Spanish pork sausage, it's also a handy dandy proxy that will search your site looking for known bugs and vulnerabilities. Best of all, it's free! While a fully-functional version is not yet available, you can pre-register at the Chorizo! site (http://chorizo-scanner.com/). If you'd like to read the original post and get the inside info, you can by going to the blog itself.

Pro-PHP Talks to Microsoft

In the latest podcast from php|architect's Pro-PHP (http://www.pro-php.com) Marcus Whitney interviews Brian Goldfarb and Joe Stagner about the role Microsoft is playing in bringing together ASP, PHP, JSP and Coldfusion developers. As always, an interesting listen, and an eye-opening one at that. If you do listen, try and keep an open mind, okay? Check it out at their podcast site.

PHPQuebec Conference Schedule Confirmed

In a news tip from PHPQuebec, the schedule has been finalized and posted. This
year, the conference will be held at the Montreal Plaza Hotel from March 29th
to 31st. It features 2 days of technical learning and an additional day of
workshop. The speakers include well known PHP experts such as Rasmus
Lerdorf, Andrei Zmeivski, Derick Rethans and Ilia Alshanetsky. The conference will have three distinct tracks: Advanced Techniques, Professional Development and Databases. With over 31 sessions,
including workshops, the PHP Québec Conference is a great opportunity to learn
about the latest PHP techniques and professional development techniques to
help you build high quality PHP software. The conference will also present
the various storage solutions available such has IBM DB2, PostgreSQL, SQLite,
MySQL and Sybase. Special prices are available to all PHP User Group Members so be sure to get all the relevant information at http://conf.phpquebec.com/en/.

Bindows Ajax Framework Getting Attention

A recent press release sent to PHPBuilder notes some advances in a new Ajax Framework called Bindows (http://www.bindows.net). To quote the release, "Bindows advances AJAX technology to the next level by enabling zero-footprint web applications that are as rich and responsive as any
modern desktop application. Using the Bindows industry-leading
object-oriented architecture and toolset, developers are able to build Web
2.0 applications that interoperate with any back-end platform, server, and
operating system and all major browsers." Ok, so it reeks of press-speak but I checked it out and it's still pretty cool, at least from a first glance. Check it out for yourself at http://www.bindows.net.

Smarty 2.6.13 Released

In a quick post to the Smarty website, we find that they have released a security fix for the templating engine. You can either download the new version or, as the site says, " for a quick-fix, just replace the modifier.regex_replace.php file in the plugins directory.". To download, go to http://smarty.php.net/.

PEAR/PECL Releases

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't include what's new at PEAR and PECL. Recent PEAR releases include: